(Washington, D.C.)  Congresswoman Cathy McMorris (WA-05) announced today that the Ferry County Public Hospital in Republic, WA has received a $111,722 grant under the Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program administered by USDA-Rural Development.

"Access to quality health care is critical to our rural communities, said McMorris. “Funding for Telemedicine will help give people in the Tri County area more health care options. I was proud to work with Ron O' Halloran to support this project and hope we can continue to work together to support rural health care throughout Eastern Washington."

McMorris wrote a letter in support of Ferry County Public Hospital’s telemedicine program when they applied for the USDA-Rural Development grant last June. The funding received through this grant will allow Ferry County Public Hospital to facilitate the purchase of videoconference units for the following locations:

The project also includes future plans to utilize SimMan units in conjunction with the videoconference equipment to provide the much needed training for our EMS personnel, nurses, and other health care providers.

“We appreciate this opportunity to work with the USDA RUS DLT program to provide expanded educational opportunities that might otherwise be unavailable to rural communities,” said Ron O’Halloran, Adminstrator, Ferry County Public Hospital District.